World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, aircraft were initially intended for
aerial reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including artillery spotting, the collection of i ...
, however some pilots began to carry rifles in case they spotted enemy planes. Soon, planes were fitted with machine guns with a variety of mountings; initially the only guns were carried in the rear cockpit supplying defensive fire (this was employed by two-seat aircraft all through the war). Seeing a need for offensive fire, forward-firing weapons were devised. The Airco DH.2pusher plane had its gun in the front while the engine was in the back, some experimented with mountings on the (side) wing or on the biplane's upper wing (above the cockpit), until by 1916 most fighter aircraft mounted their guns in the forward fuselage using a synchronization gear so that the bullets did not strike the propeller.
In
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, fighter aircraft carried
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...
s and
cannons
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder dur ...
mounted in the wings, engine cowlings, nose, or between the banks of the engine, firing through the propeller spinner.
Night fighters
A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...
sometimes utilized guns firing upwards as well. Bombers typically carried from one to 14 flexible machine guns and/or autocannon as defensive armament, while certain types added fixed offensive guns as well.
While missiles have been the primary armament since the early 1960s, the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
showed that guns still had a role to play and most fighters built since then are fitted with cannons (typically between 20 and 30 mm in caliber) as an adjunct to missiles. Modern European fighter aircraft are usually equipped with the
revolver cannon
A revolver cannon is a type of autocannon, commonly used as an aircraft gun. It uses a cylinder with multiple chambers, like those of a revolver handgun, to speed up the loading-firing-ejection cycle. Some examples are also power-driven, to fur ...
, whereas the United States and to some extent Russia generally favor the Gatling gun. The Gatling gun quickly became the weapon of choice for most air forces.
* ADEN cannon (UK)
*
20 mm Becker
The Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon was a German autocannon developed for aircraft use during World War I by '' Stahlwerke Becker''. It was first mass-produced in 1916 and was installed in a variety of aircraft. It was the only German autocannon ...
Berezin BS
The Berezin UB (russian: УБ - Универсальный Березина) (''Berezin's Universal'') was a 12.7 mm caliber Soviet aircraft machine gun widely used during World War II.
Development
In 1937, Mikhail Yevgenyevich Berezin bega ...
(USSR)
*
Berezin UB
The Berezin UB (russian: УБ - Универсальный Березина) (''Berezin's Universal'') was a 12.7 mm caliber Soviet aircraft machine gun widely used during World War II.
Development
In 1937, Mikhail Yevgenyevich Berezin bega ...
Bofors m/49
AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years.
History
Located ...
Bordkanone BK 5 cannon
The Rheinmetall ''Bordkanone'' 5, or BK-5, was a WWII-era German 50 mm autocannon primarily intended for use against Allied heavy bombers, such as the United States Army Air Forces's (USAAF) Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. The shells had a hig ...
Breda-SAFAT machine gun
Breda-SAFAT (''Società Italiana Ernesto Breda per Costruzioni Meccaniche / Breda Meccanica Bresciana'' - ''Società Anonima Fabbrica Armi Torino'') was an Italian weapons manufacturer of the 1930s and 1940s that designed and produced a range of m ...
(Italy)
*
Browning Model 1919 machine gun
The M1919 Browning is a .30 caliber medium machine gun that was widely used during the 20th century, especially during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M1919 saw service as a light infantry, coaxial, mounted, aircraft, ...
(United States)
*
Colt Mk 12 cannon
{{Infobox weapon
, name= Colt Mk 12
, image= 20 mm Mk 12 cannon of RNZAF A-4K Skyhawk 1984.jpg
, image_size =
, caption= Mk 12 cannon of a RNZAF Douglas A-4K Skyhawk.
, origin= United States
, type= Autocannon
, is_ranged= yes
, service= 1950 ...
(United States)
*
COW 37 mm gun
The COW 37 mm gun was a British automatic cannon that was developed during First World War as a large-calibre aircraft weapon. It was tested in several installations and specified for the Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter for attacking bombers. Th ...
GAU-8 Avenger
The General Electric GAU-8/A Avenger is a 30 mm hydraulically driven seven-barrel Gatling-style autocannon that is primarily mounted in the United States Air Force's Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II. Designed to destroy a wide variety of g ...
(United States)
*
GAU-12 Equalizer
The General Dynamics GAU-12/U Equalizer is a five-barrel 25 mm Gatling-type rotary cannon. The GAU-12/U is used by the United States, Italy and Spain, which mount the weapon in their attack jets such as the AV-8B Harrier II, airborne gunships ...
(United States)
*
GIAT 30
The GIAT 30 is a series of 30 mm cannon developed to replace the DEFA 550 series weapons on French military aircraft.
Introduced in the late 1980s, the GIAT 30 is a revolver cannon with electric ignition and automatic recocking. Unlike the DE ...
Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-23
The Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-23 (russian: Грязев-Шипунов ГШ-6-23) (GRAU designation: 9A-620 for GSh-6-23, 9A-768 for GSh-6-23M modernized variant) is a six-barreled 23 mm rotary cannon used by some modern Soviet/Russian military ...
(Russia)
*
Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-30
The Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-30 (Russian: Грязев-Шипунов ГШ-6-30) is a Russian 30 mm rotary cannon aircraft-mounted and naval autocannon used by Soviet and later CIS military aircraft. The GSh-6-30 fires a 30×165mm, projectile ...
Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-2
The Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-2 (ГШ-30-2) or GSh-2-30 is a Soviet dual-barrel autocannon developed for use on certain ground attack military aircraft and helicopters.
The cannon is not related to the Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-1, but is a recoil- ...
(Russia)
*
Hispano 20 mm cannon
The HS.404 is an autocannon originally designed and produced by Spanish/French company Hispano-Suiza in the mid-1930s. It was widely used as an aircraft, naval and land-based weapon by French, British, American and other military services, par ...
Ho-3 cannon
Ho-3 was a Japanese autocannon used during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority ...
(20mm) (Japan)
*
Ho-5 cannon
The Ho-5 (Army Type 2) was a Japanese aircraft autocannon used during World War II. Developed from the Ho-103 machine gun, it was a version of the American Model 1921 Browning aircraft machine gun. It replaced the Ho-1 and Ho-3 (Army Type 9 ...
Ho-155 cannon
The 30 mm Ho-155 cannon was a Japanese aircraft autocannon used during World War II, often mistakenly called with the Ho-105 or Ho-151. A lighter and more compact Ho-155-II was designed towards the end of the war.
Development
The Ho-155-I was fi ...
(30mm), (Japan)
*
Ho-203 cannon
Ho-203 was a Japanese autocannon that saw considerable use during World War II. It was a long-recoil automation of the Year 11 Type direct-fire infantry gun. It was fed by a 15-round closed-loop ammunition belt. It was operationally used only as ...
Ho-301 cannon
The Ho-301 was a Japanese 40 millimeter caliber autocannon that saw limited use during World War II, on Japanese Army Nakajima Ki-44 and Kawasaki Ki-45 KAI aircraft. It was unusual in using caseless ammunition. Although the effective range of t ...
(caseless 40mm) (Japan)
*
Ho-401 cannon
Ho-401 was a Japanese aircraft autocannon that saw limited, if any, use during World War II. It was a large-caliber version of the 37 mm Ho-203 cannon
Ho-203 was a Japanese autocannon that saw considerable use during World War II. It was ...
M4 cannon
The 37 mm Automatic Gun, M4, known as the T9 during development, was a 37 mm (1.46 in) recoil-operated autocannon designed by Browning Arms Company. The weapon, which was built by Colt, entered service in 1942. It was primarily m ...
(United States)
*
M39 cannon
The M39 cannon is a 20 mm caliber single-barreled revolver cannon developed for the United States Air Force in the late 1940s. It was used on a number of fighter aircraft from the early 1950s through the 1980s.
Development
The M39 was developed ...
(United States)
*
M61 Vulcan
The M61 Vulcan is a hydraulically, electrically, or pneumatically driven, six- barrel, air-cooled, electrically fired Gatling-style rotary cannon which fires rounds at an extremely high rate (typically 6,000 rounds per minute). The M61 and i ...
(United States)
*
M134 Minigun
The M134 Minigun is an American 7.62×51mm NATO six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high rate of fire (2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute). It features a Gatling-style rotating barrel assembly with an external power source, normally an electric ...
(United States)
*
M197 Gatling gun
The M197 electric cannon is a 20 mm three-barreled electric Gatling-type rotary cannon used by the United States military.
Development
The M197 electric cannon was developed primarily for use by United States Army helicopter gunships. Deve ...
(United States)
*
MAC 1934
The MAC 1934 is a machine gun of French origin. It is effectively the aircraft variant of the Reibel machine gun.
History
In 1934, the ''Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault'' (Châtellerault weapons manufacturing company, often shortened to ' ...
(France)
*
Mauser BK-27
The BK 27 (also BK27 or BK-27) (German abbreviation for ''Bordkanone'', "on-board cannon") is a caliber revolver cannon manufactured by Mauser (now part of Rheinmetall) of Germany. It was developed in the late 1960s for the MRCA (Multi Role Comba ...
(Germany)
*
MG 08
The ''Maschinengewehr'' 08, or MG 08, was the German Army's standard machine gun in World War I and is an adaptation of Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war. The MG 08 served during Wo ...
(Germany)
*
MG 15 machine gun
The MG 15 was a German 7.92 mm machine gun designed specifically as a hand-manipulated defensive gun for combat aircraft during the early 1930s. By 1941 it was replaced by other types and found new uses with ground troops.
History
The MG 1 ...
MG 131 machine gun
The MG 131 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr'' 131, or "Machine gun 131") was a German 13 mm caliber machine gun developed in 1938 by Rheinmetall-Borsig and produced from 1940 to 1945. The MG 131 was designed for use at fixed, flexible ...
(Germany)
*
MG 151 cannon
The MG 151 (MG 151/15) was a German 15 mm aircraft-mounted autocannon produced by Waffenfabrik Mauser during World War II. Its 20mm variant, the 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon, was widely used on German Luftwaffe fighters, night fighters, figh ...
(Germany)
*
MG FF cannon
The MG FF was a drum-fed, blowback-operated, 20 mm aircraft autocannon, developed in 1936 by Ikaria Werke Berlin of Germany. It was a derivative of the Swiss Oerlikon FF F cannon (its ''FF'' suffix indicating ''Flügel Fest'', for a fixed ...
(Germany)
*
MK 103 cannon
The Rheinmetall-Borsig MK 103 ("MK" - '' Maschinenkanone'') was a German 30 mm caliber autocannon that was mounted in German combat aircraft during World War II. Intended to be a dual purpose weapon for anti-tank and air-to-air fighting, it was de ...
(Germany)
*
MK 108 cannon
The MK 108 (German: ''Maschinenkanone''—"machine cannon") was a 30 mm caliber autocannon manufactured in Germany during World War II by Rheinmetall‑Borsig for use in aircraft.
The cannon saw widespread use as an anti-bomber weapon during the ...
(Germany)
*
Nudelman-Suranov NS-23
The NS-23 was a aircraft cannon designed by A. E. Nudelman, A. Suranov, G. Zhirnykh, V. Nemenov, S. Lunin, and M. Bundin during World War II as a replacement for the Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23 cannon. It entered service in 1944. The NS-23 round was d ...
Shipunov 2A42
The Shipunov 2A42 is a Soviet/Russian 30 mm autocannon. It is built by the Tulamashzavod Joint Stock Company.
Design
The 30 mm 2A42 autocannon was developed as a replacement for 2A28 Grom and has a dual feed. One is for HE-T and th ...
(Russia)
*
ShKAS machine gun
The ShKAS (Shpitalny-Komaritski Aviatsionny Skorostrelny, Shpitalny-Komaritski rapid fire for aircraft; Russian: ШКАС - Шпитального-Комарицкого Авиационный Скорострельный) is a 7.62 mm calibre ...
Ordnance QF 6-pounder
The Ordnance Quick-Firing 6-pounder 7 cwt,British forces traditionally denoted smaller ordnance by the weight of its standard projectile, in this case approximately . The approximate weight of the gun barrel and breech, "7 cwt" (cwt = hundredwe ...
(DH Mosquito 57mm anti-submarine gun) (UK)
*
Parabellum MG14
The Parabellum MG 14 was a 7.92 mm caliber World War I machine gun built by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken. It was a redesign of the Maschinengewehr 08 machine gun (itself an adaptation of the Maxim gun) system intended for use on airc ...
75 mm gun (US)
75 may refer to:
* 75 (number)
* one of the years 75 BC, AD 75, 1875 CE, 1975 CE, 2075 CE
* ''75'' (album), an album by Joe Zawinul
* M75 (disambiguation), including "Model 75"
* Highway 75, see List of highways numbered 75
*Alfa Romeo 75, a c ...
(T13E1 / M5) (United States)
*
Type 1 machine gun
The Type 1 machine gun was developed for aerial use for the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy during World War II. It was an adaptation of the German MG 15 machine gun. (Note that the 12.7mm Ho-103 and H-104 machine guns are also known as the "Typ ...
(7.92mm)(Japan)
*
Type 2 cannon
The 30mm Type 2 cannon was a Japanese Navy autocannon used during World War II. It was a scaled-up version of the 20mm Oerlikon FF
The FF were a series of 20mm autocannon introduced by Oerlikon in the late 1920s. The name comes from the German ...
(30mm) (Japan)
*
Type 2 machine gun
The Type 2 machine gun was developed for aerial use for the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. It was an adaptation of the German MG 131 machine gun.
Installations
* Aichi B7A
* Aichi E16A
* Mitsubishi A6M5c
* Mitsubishi G4M
* Nakajima ...
Type 5 cannon
The 30 mm Type 5 cannon was a Japanese Navy autocannon used near the end of World War II. It was an indigenous 30 mm design with better performance than the Navy's earlier Oerlikon-derived Type 2 or the Imperial Army's Browning-derived Ho-155, al ...
Type 92 machine gun
The was developed for aerial use for the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1932. The Type 92 is a light machine gun and not to be confused with the similarly named Type 92 heavy machine gun.
Description
It was the standard hand-held machine gun in mu ...
Type 99 cannon
The Type 99 Mark 1 machine gun and Type 99 Mark 2 machine gun were Japanese versions of the Oerlikon FF and Oerlikon FFL autocannons respectively. They were adopted by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in 1939 and served as their standard aircraft ...
(20mm) (Japan)
*
1.59 inch Breech-Loading Vickers Q.F. Gun, Mk II
The 1.59-inch breech-loading Vickers Q.F. gun, Mk II was a British light artillery piece designed during World War I. Originally intended for use in trench warfare, it was instead tested for air-to-air and air-to-ground use by aircraft. Although ...
("Vickers-Crayford rocket gun") (UK)
*
Vickers machine gun
The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more men to move and o ...
(UK)
*
Vickers K machine gun
The Vickers K machine gun, known as the Vickers Gas Operated (Vickers G.O.) or Gun, Machine, Vickers G.O. .303-inch in British service, was a rapid-firing machine gun developed and manufactured for use in aircraft by Vickers-Armstrongs. The hi ...
(UK)
*
Vickers S
The Vickers 40 mm Class S gun, also known simply as the "S gun", was a 40 mm (1.57 in) airborne autocannon designed by Vickers-Armstrongs for use as aircraft armament.
It was primarily used during World War II by British airc ...
(UK)
*
Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23
The Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23 (Волков-Ярцев ВЯ-23) is a autocannon, used on Soviet aircraft during World War II.
Development
In 1940, A.A. Volkov and S.A. Yartsev created an autocannon, called TKB-201 for the new 23 mm round. I ...
(USSR)
Air-dropped bombs
*
AASM AASM may refer to:
* Armement Air-Sol Modulaire, a French precision guided munition
* Australian Active Service Medal
* American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a professional organization
* The Anglo-American School of Moscow
The Anglo-American Sch ...
(France)
*
AN-22 bomb An alpha privative or, rarely, privative a (from Latin ', from Ancient Greek ) is the prefix ''a-'' or ''an-'' (before vowels) that is used in Indo-European languages such as Sanskrit and Greek and in words borrowed therefrom to express negation or ...
(France)
*
AN-52 bomb
The AN-52 was a French pre-strategic nuclear weapon carried by fighter bomber aircraft.
The weapon was first tested on 28 August 1972, and entered service in October of that year. Between 80 and 100 bombs were manufactured for use by French ta ...
(French tactical nuclear bomb)
*
B28 nuclear bomb
The B28, originally Mark 28, was a thermonuclear bomb carried by U.S. tactical fighter bombers, attack aircraft and bomber aircraft. From 1962 to 1972 under the NATO nuclear weapons sharing program, American B28s also equipped six Europe-based ...
B41 nuclear bomb
The B-41 (also known as Mk-41) was a thermonuclear weapon deployed by the United States Strategic Air Command in the early 1960s. It was the most powerful nuclear bomb ever developed by the United States, with a maximum yield of . The B-41 was ...
(USA)
*
B43 nuclear bomb
The B43 was a United States air-dropped variable yield thermonuclear weapon used by a wide variety of fighter bomber and bomber aircraft.
The B43 was developed from 1956 by Los Alamos National Laboratory, entering production in 1959. It entered ...
(USA)
*
B46 nuclear bomb
The B46 nuclear bomb (or Mk-46) was an American high-yield thermonuclear bomb which was designed and tested in the late 1950s. It was never deployed. Though originally intended to be a production design, the B46 ended up being only an intermediate ...
(USA)
*
B53 nuclear bomb
The Mk/B53 was a high-yield bunker buster thermonuclear weapon developed by the United States during the Cold War. Deployed on Strategic Air Command bombers, the B53, with a yield of 9 megatons, was the most powerful weapon in the U.S. n ...
(USA)
*
B57 nuclear bomb
The B57 nuclear bomb was a tactical nuclear weapon developed by the United States during the Cold War.
Entering production in 1963 as the Mk 57, the bomb was designed to be dropped from high-speed tactical aircraft. It had a streamlined casing ...
(USA)
*
B61 nuclear bomb
The B61 nuclear bomb is the primary thermonuclear gravity bomb in the United States Enduring Stockpile following the end of the Cold War. It is a low to intermediate-yield strategic and tactical nuclear weapon featuring a two-stage radiation im ...
(USA)
*
B90 nuclear bomb
The B90 Nuclear Depth Strike Bomb (NDSB) was an American thermonuclear bomb designed at Lawrence Livermore National Labs in the mid-to-late 1980s and cancelled prior to introduction into military service due to the end of the Cold War.
The B90 ...
BLU-107 Durandal
Named for a mythical medieval French sword, the Durandal is an anti-runway penetration bomb developed by the French company Matra (now MBDA), designed to destroy airport runways and exported to several countries. A simple crater in a runway coul ...
(USA)
*
BLU-109
The BLU-109/B is a hardened penetration bomb used by the United States Air Force (BLU is an acronym for Bomb Live Unit). As with other "bunker busters", it is intended to penetrate concrete shelters and other hardened structures before exploding ...
BLU-116 The BLU-116 is a United States Air Force bomb, designed as an enhanced bunker buster penetration weapon, designed to penetrate deep into rock or concrete and destroy hard targets.Mark 28 nuclear bomb (USA)
*Mark 36 nuclear bomb (USA)
*Mark 77 bomb incendiary bomb (USA)
*Mark 81 bomb (USA)
*Mark 82 bomb (USA)
*Mark 83 bomb (USA)
*Mark 84 bomb (USA)
* Mark 90 Betty nuclear depth bomb
*Mk-101 Lulu NDB (Nuclear Depth Bomb), Mark 101 NDB (nuclear depth bomb)
*Mark 105 Hotpoint bomb U.S. Navy tactical laydown bomb.
*Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (USA)
*Matra Durandal (France)
*Flechettes, Flechette (WWI)
*Ranken dart (World War I British)
*Blockbuster bomb (World War II British, also known as "cookies")
*Bouncing bomb (World War II British)
*SC250 bomb (World War II Germany)
*Tallboy bomb (World War II British, "earthquake bomb")
*Grand Slam bomb (World War II British, "earthquake" bomb)
*T-12 Cloudmaker, T-12 Cloud Maker (44,000 lb U.S. development of the Grand Slam bomb)
*Butterfly bomb
*Blue Rosette (UK strategic nuclear bomb for a supersonic bomber)
*Red Beard (nuclear weapon) (UK tactical nuclear bomb)
*Violet Club (UK emergency capability strategic nuclear bomb)
*Violet Club, Interim Megaton Weapon (UK emergency capability strategic nuclear bomb)
*WE.177A (UK dual-purpose tactical nuclear bomb and nuclear depth bomb)
*WE.177B (UK strategic nuclear bomb)
*WE.177C (UK tactical nuclear bomb)
*Yellow Sun (nuclear weapon), Yellow Sun Mk.1 (UK strategic nuclear bomb)
*Yellow Sun (nuclear weapon), Yellow Sun Mk.2 (UK strategic nuclear bomb)
*Weapons
*Firearms
*List of firearms
*List of weapons of military aircraft of Germany during World War Two, WW2 Luftwaffe aircraft weapons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aircraft weapons
Aircraft weapons,
Lists of weapons
Aviation-related lists